Postmedia titles in Calgary see spike in engagement

19 December 2018

Syrian refugees who came to Canada in February 2016 , Afraa Bilan, 22 and her husband Muhammad Bilan, 29, with their three children, Nael, will be 3 on June 9, left, Naya, 5 and Justin Trudeau Adam, born May 4, at their home in Calgary. Leah Hennel/Postmedia

One of the ideas the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun implemented last year to encourage print readership was to dive into issues that matter to new residents in our city, writes Monica Zurowski, deputy editor with the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun.

"We worked to ensure their stories were reflected in our news pages," she writes in a new blog on INMA.

Much of the initial coverage of the refugees, she says, was focused on political and social issues. That conversation shifted when a local news editor started a dialogue with reporters: What now? Would new arrivals be able to find work? Learn English? Live happily in a foreign, snowy land?

The paper's ongoing coverage increased engagement with their print product, and guided how the organization can work better with diverse cultural groups.